30 Jan 2019

In an effort to support government’s effort to provide quality education and care for the needy, Max Foundation in partnership with Now For Them has donated 50 solar lamps to Manyana Primary School as well as clothes to 20 people with disabilities in Manyana.

Speaking during the recent handing over ceremony of the donations, a representative of Now For Them, Mr Aron Solo said the donations of solar lamps to the less privileged pupils through their exercise called Marang A Thuto was a way of encouraging them to do their work even after school without any impediments.

Most pupils, he said, were not able to do their home works due to unavailability of electricity and illuminations such as candles and lamps at their homes. He therefore said solar lamps would help the situation. Mr Solo said their organisation was a non-profit organisation, which dealt with children on daily basis. Thus he said they were able to learn about children’s necessities, which at some point forced them to perform poorly at school.

He said their mandate was to empower young boys and girls to be better and responsible people in the future, hence the organisation had started with their educational welfare to assist them academically.

Mr Solo said Marang A Thuto exercise was started in 2016 by the founder of the organisation, Ms Sarah Mulwa as a way of giving back to the community by targeting less privileged pupils. In 2017, he explained that the organisation started an annual fund-rising event for lamps by walking 100km from Mosu to Lekhumo Island in Makgadikgadi and back.

For her part, the founder of Max Foundation, Ms Malebogo Molefe, who is a gender based violence activist said less privileged children had the right to education, hence there was a need to offer a helping hand towards supporting them academically to facilitate their successful future.

She said parents who were living with disability also needed support and love in order to feel appreciated by the society. Ms Molefe therefore pointed out that her organization decided to donate clothes to these parents as a way of giving back to the community. She was optimistic that the donated clothes would bring smiles to faces of recipients.

Further, she noted that her organization dealt with educating the community about all forms of abuse affecting women and children. He urged woman to always report abuse as fast as they could.

When receiving the donations, Kgosi Kebinatshwene Mosielele of Manyana thanked the two organizations for reaching out to the less privileged and the disabled. He was also optimistic that the donations would change the recipients’’ lives.

Kgosi Mosielele had however encouraged parents to assist the children in taking care of the solar lamps so that they could yield positive results. He was happy that the donations came at the right time when the government was appealing to non-governmental organizations and other players to assist caring for the less privileged. Kgosi Mosielele was hopeful that the donations would encourage others to come on board and assist.

He further urged pupils to take advantage of solar lamps and study hard to improve their academic performance. 

He was also happy that his village was lucky as they had not received any form of child abuse recently, hence he advised parents to continue to take care of their children and make sure they were not sexually exploited. ENDS